CHAD: Death of a Dictator

During 15 years of harsh and eccentric rule,
President Ngarta Tombalbaye of Chad survived at least seven major
assassination attempts. Last week his luck ran out. In a surprise
sunrise attack, uniformed soldiers and police, led by General Mbailai
Odingar, acting commander of Chad's 4,000-man army, stormed the
white-walled presidential palace in Ndjamena, capital of this Central
African nation. Tombalbaye's death was announced over national radio,
and General Odingar claimed that the armed forces had "exercised their
responsibilities before God and the nation." Almost immediately,
thousands of brightly swathed men and women poured into the dusty
streets of the...